Gum raised the chicken to her mouth with her chopsticks. She'd gotten sick of waiting for him and ordered by herself. He was thirty minutes late. Fink was such an ass. Why did he have to be so &$ing charming? She set the box of food on the mailbox next to her and picked up her drink to take a sip. He was making a bad impression, being so late to their third real date. His food was getting cold, too. She stood at the street corner where they were supposed to meet. She was sure she was in the right place, and it seemed unlikely that Fink would get lost, he had to know the Shibuya area if he used to be a Love Shocker. So where was he?
Finally, she saw him. He came over the top of the big hill and skated down towards her, fast. It was about time. What had made him so late? He was really moving fast. Really really fast. Hauling ass fast. As fast as you can go fast. And he wasn't slowing down as he got closer and closer.
"I'msorrybutImgonnahavetomakethismealtogo!" Fink somehow fit into three syllables as he blew by without stopping, scooping up his beef bowl and drink as he went by. Gum blinked as she watched him go, befuddled. Suddenly, she was startled by a loud noise. A gunshot. She could feel the bullet blow by her and watched it spark as it his the pavement, narrowly missing Fink down the road. She turned rapidly to look for the source.
Another rudie was at the top of the hill skating down after Fink, also going as fast as possible. A Love Shocker, the meanest one. Even with her bad reputation, Gum was surprised to see her speeding down the street with a .22 in her hand, firing off rounds liberally.
"Come back her so I can kill you!" she screamed downhill. "Take it like a man!"
Gum turned quickly and started skating after Fink. A car came around a corner up ahead and she grabbed it's back bumper so it dragged her along behind it until it turned, putting her almost right behind Fink. More shots were being fired once the car was out of the way. Fink was trying to gulp down his beef bowl like from a cup as fast as he could without burning his mouth too severely. He was clearly having difficulty maintaining this balance. As he finished and tossed the bowl to the side and took a drink from his cola, he noticed Gum.
"Oh, hey Gum. You may want to take a rain check on that date," Fink suggested.
"What the Hell is going on?" Gum screamed, panicked.
"Oh, her?" Fink gestured toward the Shocker with his free hand. "Ex-girlfriend. She's still a little mad at me." The cup in his hand exploded into a shower of moisture and ice as a bullet went through it.
"You're gonna die Nova!" the Shocker called down to them. Shots ricocheted a few yards from Fink's feet.
"You went out with HER?" Gum disbelieved.
"Yeah, well..." he dismissed. "Look lively, we're headed up!" They ground up the rail of a bridge leading over the street. Fink slowed down at the top. Gum wasn't sure what he was doing, but followed suit. "Annnnnd NOW!" Fink yelled, jumping off the bridge, Gum nervously following. They landed on the roof of a truck going under the bridge. "It was right after I had to leave Claudi and the Noise Tanks that I met Mace. She had just broken up with some guy. We were both lonely, heartbroken, and lovelorn. Kindred spirits, as you said. We decided to make our own gang for all of Tokyo-to's bleeding hearts." They were interrupted by more gunshots. Mace had mimicked their trick and was on top of a bus a few cars back. "Get behind the trailer!" Fink commanded, doing so. Gum complied. Being shot at, riding the Mac in this dangerous fashion, Gum was scared. A truly uncommon occurrence.
They two jumped off the truck on either side and made their way up another bridge after a short distance. The bridge lead to a playground on the bank to the side of the road. Mace jumped directly from the top of the bus onto the bridge railing, which was harder than it sounds, since it involved a rather high standing jump. Gum wished Fink hadn't taught his ex-girlfriends to skate so well, as she doubted she herself could have made the leap. They skated into the playground, Mace now in hotter pursuit. They ground onto a railing, stepping over the corner, then leapt to do a wallie off a sign of playground rules, then grinded up a swing-set support to do a massive leap onto an overpass under construction above them. The whole while, Gum felt dangerously outclassed by the other two. To Gum's horror, Mace continued to fire as they went through the playground. Gum heard no signs of anyone being hit, but still, the principle of it! There were children about! On the overpass, Fink and Gum leapt onto a embunkment to grind down the road, Mace following on the ground. Emptying the rest of her clip, Mace concentrated on cramming her few remaining bullets into the magazine.
"Anyway," Fink continued nonchalantly, "It wasn't long before we fell into each other's arms.
"She's crazy!" Gum exclaimed. "We're rudies, but there are some lines you just don't cross! People like her give us a bad name!"
Fink nodded, "Back then we felt betrayed. We were broken hearted, angry at the world. I didn't realize she was just always angry. She's a total psycho. She used to be in with a gang. Like GANG gangs. Well, I didn't want any part of that, so-"
The pair came to a stop. The highway had come to an ending and there was nothing but empty space below them. It was and 80 foot drop down into and empty drainage ditch running between sewers.
"Hmm... Shit," Fink mused. There was a succession of bangs and Fink let out an "Argh!" as two bullets pierced his right shoulder. Gum turned. Mace was concentrating. She was going to make the next shot count.
Gum took a deep breath, "Jump!" she yelled, pushing Fink off the edge as she held tightly to his arm. She aimed to land on the basin ledge, cut 30 feet or so out of the fall, maybe they'd just break their legs... Fink instead pulled her forward, angling them horizontally. Their skates pressed against the basin wall and Fink crouched so they slid down it like a half pipe. The save was successful, or at least it should have been, but the impact was too fast for Gum, and she fell, dragging Fink down with her. They tumbled to a stop, badly winded and battered. Mace jumped down to land smoothly, as Fink had attempted to. The pair got up and froze as they saw the gun pointed at them. Fink looked grave, putting an arm in front of Gum, pushing her to the side.
"Oh Nova, Nova, Nova..." Mace shook her head. "You always were a slippery Fink. I could probably shoot at your slippery ass all day and hit nothing but air. But I'm down to my last bullet, and I know one way to hit you for sure..." Mace chirped, turning to aim at Gum's heart.
"No!" Fink yelled, stepping in front of her. The shot was fired and Fink fell onto his back and crumpled.
"Fink! No!" Gum cried.
"Ahaha!" Mace laughed. "Oh Fink, you always were a sucker for the ladies, right up to the end!" she mocked. She threw her head back to laugh some more as she turned and skated away victoriously.
"Fink! Fink, speak to me! Tell me you're ok!" Gum cradled him in her arms.
"I... think... I'm...o...k...urgh!" he grunted as he tried to move. They looked at the wound, his hands covered in blood. "It's... bleeding.. pretty bad, but... I don't think... she hit anything... vital..." he managed, struggling to his feet. The hospital was close. It'd be quicker to walk then to contact them and wait for them to get a gurney down there. Gum slung an arm under his good shoulder and helped him stagger toward the service stairs.
"Why'd you do that? What were you thinking?" Gum scolded him.
"It was... my problem... wouldn't be right... if you got shot..." he wheezed.
"You fool..." Gum sighed, "Don't you get it? She was pointing at me, but she was always aiming for you."
"I know..." he said. "But I couldn't take the risk... You mean too much to me..."
"Fink..." Gum turned, her jaw dropped a little. "You said you'd liked me, but..."
Fink looked very serious, "But you didn't realize I meant that much?" Gum nodded. "Yeah, well..." he sighed. "I didn't really want to say it. I've only known you a couple of months, it seems crazy to feel this much for someone you haven't known that long. I didn't want to spook you. But yeah... You already mean the world to me... I'm pretty sure I love you... " he looked her in the eyes.
"Fink..." Gum murmured. They closed their eyes and their lips embraced. He took from her kiss more deeply than Gum could ever remember experiencing before. They went back to walking up the stairs.
"So what're we going to tell the doctors?" Gum broke the silence after awhile.
"We'll tell them I fell on this bullet and it lodged itself in me," Fink decided. "Then I fell backwards onto these other two bullets."
Gum laughed.
